Information and Knowledge Management in Business Contexts: A Multi-Method Study

by Karen Nelson

Many approaches seek to facilitate information and knowledge management (IKM) practices within business contexts. These approaches identify organizational factors (e.g. culture or IT) or to suggest management processes (e.g. HRM) that are conducive to IKM. Existing work has tended to ignore the complexity of organizational contexts and the interdependencies between information and knowledge. This work reports on an interpretive multi-methodological research (MMR) study consisting of three sequential phases: action research, transition and case study. The data arising from the three research phases is synthesized to (1) confirm a suitable referent model on which IKM frameworks can be based and (2) develop a practical IKM framework. The referent model features two established concepts: (a) the domains of IKM activity and (b) double and single loop feedback loops. The practical IKM framework has three dimensions: (i) domains of IKM activity and feedback loops (ii) organizational enablers (iii) project context. This framework will be useful to practitioners needing managing the business environment to ensure success of IKM projects or initiatives.

480 pages, Paperback

Published August 26, 2008

About the author

Karen Nelson is an author and teacher, with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction. She is the author of 100 Things To Do In Branson Before You Die (Reedy Press, 2018), After Ever After (Goldminds Publishing, 2017), and a half dozen other books for the nonfiction market.

Her award-winning articles and short fiction have appeared in national magazines, and she maintains her passion for education from her southwest Missouri farm.